Achan

Achan was an Israelite from the tribe of Judah who violated the ban (ḥerem) against taking plunder from the city of Jericho during the conquest of Canaan. Secretly taking a beautiful Babylonian robe, two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold, he buried them under his tent (Joshua 7:20–21). His transgression caused Israel's unexpected defeat at the small city of Ai, and God revealed to Joshua that 'Israel has sinned' through the theft of devoted things. Identified through a process of sacred lot-casting, Achan confessed and was stoned with his family and possessions in the Valley of Achor—'trouble'—a name the prophets later reframe as a 'door of hope' in the restored future (Hosea 2:15; Isaiah 65:10). His story illustrates the corporate dimension of covenant transgression in Israelite theology.